Japan History

Hardcover. NY, Columbia University, 1st, 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, lightly worn dust jacket, 300 pages. Book from 1980, being one of the most influential works of Japanese history and political theory. With its glorification of Japan's system of imperial succession, the author's 14th century tract became the catechism of loyalty to the throne for generations of Japanese. Beginning with recounting of Japan's divine origins, it tells of the early deities who ruled before heaven and earth were separated. Then the lives of the human sovereigns are chronicled who ruled over Japan in the 21 centuries following the founding of the empire in the year 606 BC. This first complete English translation of this landmark work gives an extensive introduction placing the chronicle in the context of 14th century Japan and exploring its powerful legacy of Japan before the Tokugawa period. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Washington DC, Potomac Books, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 166 pages. The attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the most perplexing cases in living memory of a weaker power seeming to believe that it could vanquish a clearly superior force. On closer inspection, however, Record finds that Japan did not believe it could win; yet, the Japanese imperial command decided to attack the United States anyway. Conventional explanations that Japan's leaders were criminally stupid, wildly deluded, or just plumb crazy don't fully answer all our questions, Record finds. Instead, he argues, the Japanese were driven by an insatiable appetite for national glory and economic security via the conquest of East Asia. The scope of their ambitions and their fear of economic destruction overwhelmed their knowledge that the likelihood of winning was slim and propelled them into a war they were always going to lose. Clean copy.

Softcover. Annapolis MD, Naval Institute Press, 1st pbk, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 325 pages, b&w illustrations. Author Edward S. Miller contends in this work that the United States forced Japan into international bankruptcy to deter its aggression. While researching newly declassified records of the Treasury and Federal Reserve, Miller, a retired chief financial executive of a Fortune 500 resources corporation, uncovered just how much money mattered. Washington experts confidently predicted that the war in China would bankrupt Japan, not knowing that the Japanese government had a huge cache of dollars fraudulently hidden in New York. Once discovered, Japan scrambled to extract the money. But, Miller explains, in July 1941 President Roosevelt invoked a long-forgotten clause of the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 to freeze Japan's dollars and forbade it to sell its hoard of gold to the U.S. Treasury, the only open gold market after 1939. Roosevelt s temporary gambit to bring Japan to its senses, not its knees, was thwarted, however, by opportunistic bureaucrats. Dean Acheson, his handpicked administrator, slyly maneuvered to deny Japan the dollars needed to buy oil and other resources for war and for economic survival. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Potomac Books/University of Nebraska, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 222 pages. Burning Japan is an investigation of how and why the air force shifted its tactics against Japan from a precision bombing strategy to area attacks. The guiding doctrine of the 1930s and 1940s called for focused attacks on specific targets deep behind enemy lines. Eager to prove itself, the nascent Army Air Force at first lauded the indispensability of strategic bombardment in areas otherwise unreachable by the army or navy. But when strategic bombing failed to yield the desired results in Europe and in initial efforts against Japan, the United States switched tactics, a shift that culminated in the area firebombing of nearly every major Japanese metropolis and the burning of sixty-six cities to the ground. Clean copy.

Softcover. Mechanicsburg PA, Stackpole Books, 1st pbk, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 218 pages, b&w illustrations. From their perches on islands such as Buka and Bougainville, coast watchers -- for the most part, Australian civilians -- monitored Japanese shipping and aircraft activity. They played a pivotal role during the battle for Guadalcanal in the fall of 1942, when their intelligence facilitated the interception and destruction of twelve Japanese transports. These reports from the participants themselves provide a fascinating account that will intrigue historians as well as World War II and espionage buffs. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Tokyo, Sophia University, 1st, 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 87 pages. INSCRIBED BY GEORGE M. WILSON ON FRONT ENDPAPER. Black boards, cream cloth spine with gilt titles, white dust jacket with illustration. Price-clipped, slight rubbing to dust jacket, pages crisp and unmarked; overall, a very clean, tight copy in great condition.

Hardcover. Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1st, 1973, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 542 pages, tan cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Dust jacket has edgewear, chipping to corners. There is some light pencil marking to about 12 pages in the front of the book. Previous owner's signature on front fly leaf.

Hardcover. Yokohama, unknown, 1st, 1909, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 842 pages, gray cloth covers worn, spine cloth loose from spine backing, hinges cracked. Inside very good,clean, lacks title page which may never have been printed. A detailed collection of names, places, events, throughout Japanese history. English text. From a library in Japan with card and envelope inside rear cover and sticker on spine. Uncommon.

Hardcover. Tokyo, Japan, Toho Gakkai, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 262 pages, minor dust jacket edge wear, otherwise, very clean and tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, W. W. Norton , 2nd pr., 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn, price-clipped dust jacket, 209 pages. Many b&w photos, some color. The author and S. Oughterson and Shields Warren, as part of the United States Atomic Bomb Causality Commission, were sent immediately (September 1945) to survey Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan after the bombing and surrender of Japan to study the devastation and the subsequent irradiation sickness.

Hardcover. London, Merrell Publishers, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 256 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. Very clean, unmarked copy still in publishers shrink-wrap. Illustrated with over 250 photographs and sketches. Future Beauty is the first comprehensive survey of Japanese avant-garde fashion of the last 30 years. Such designers as Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo made an enormous impact on the world fashion scene in the late twentieth century, challenging established notions of beauty and turning fashion into art.

Hardcover. NY, powerHouse Books, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 119 pages. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY STANLEY BURNS on the title page. Japanese geisha and courtesans intrigue and fascinate Westerners. During the mid-nineteenth century, Japan opened its doors to the world and became an essential destination for travelers. Tourists desired images of landscapes and traditional Japanese culture, which Japanese photographers provided. They created souvenir albums consisting of hand-colored photographs individually chosen by the tourist. Many are so beautifully painted that they challenge modern sensibilities familiar with color photography. The photographic conventions were inspired by the aesthetics of the noted colored woodblock print medium of ukiyo-e and the privately published surimono. These works depicted the "floating world"--courtesans, geisha, and entertainments--which also were intriguing subject matter for tourists. The beautiful, large photos in this volume give a special insight into the old world of geisha. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Chapel Hill NC, University of North Carolina Press, 1st, 1955, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket, 237 pages. Endpaper maps. Day-by-day eye witness account of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the seven weeks that followed. Dr. Hachiya, himself wounded in the blast, was director of a major Hiroshima hospital. Translated and edited by Warner Wells, M.D. One of the best first hand accounts; much on the the gradual "discovery" of radiation sickness. The dust jacket's rear panel has photo of the author's surviving family. Bookplate opposite half-title page, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Tokyo, Japan Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, 1st, 1961, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 138 pages, illustrated with b&w photographs by Shomei Tomatsu and Ken Domon. Introduction by Hideki Yukawa. Square format,white cloth covers with gray concentric circle design by Kohei Sugiura, gray lettering on spine. This copy is without a slipcase and the accompanying scientific booklet. There are 2 tannish stains to rear cover near spine, light soil to white covers and some bumps to top edge at corner and spine. Internally clean except for short owner's signature at top of title page. Photographs available.

Hardcover. NY, Columbia University Press, 1st, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 410 pages with index. Contains selected translations from Taiheiyo senso e no michi: kaisen gaiko shi. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean. The first volume in Morley's 4 volume set "Japan's Road to the Pacific War".

Hardcover. Stanford CA, Stanford University Press, reprint, 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, black cloth with gilt lettering on spine, 306 pages. Records of 62 conferences held in Tokyo between March and December of 1941 provide direct access to the thinking and planning of Japan's highest leaders as they prepared for war. Indexed, with 12-page appendix. First published in 1967, no dust jacket. Name on front fly leaf otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1st, 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 407 pages. Red cloth, gilt lettering to spine. Lovely copy with only minor wear to upper edge of dust jacket, previous owner's signature on front fly leaf, else in like new condition.

Hardcover. Athens GA, University of Georgia Press, 1st, 1979, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a dust jacket with light fading to spine, 305 pages, b&w illustrations. Notes, bibilography, index. Highly informed opinions concerning most of the controversial aspects of the Allied occupation of Japan and the adjustment of Japanese politicians to the democratic process. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Cambridge MA, MIT Press, 1st, 1974, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a price-clipped dust jacket, 162 pages. Japan's economy enjoyed unprecedented technological growth in the decades after World War II. At first stereotyped as an exported of shoddy goods, Japan enjoyed a worldwide reputation as an efficient manufacturer of high-quality products. This comprehensive analysis of Japanese management treats four related but distinct subject matters: the economic, social, cultural, and political environment pertinent to Japan's industrial and managerial system; the ideologies and background to the Japanese business elite structure and the relationship between government and business; and managerial practices (organizational structure, personnel practices, decision making). The book first describes the postwar technological environment in and outside Japan. It identifies the Schumpeterian characteristics of economic development and the particular set of relationships that Japan had with the United States and with developing nations in Asia that provided it with the incentive and the necessary mechanisms to advance technologically. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Paris, Flammarion, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 216 pages. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. The 150 photographs in this collection represent a unique vision of a nation struggling to define itself. These images are accompanied by essays from renowned Japanese experts, who provide social and historical insight into this period and its photographic output. The first comprehensive review of this period in Japanese photography,.

Hardcover. NY, Harry N. Abrams, 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 416 pages, illustrated throughout with 445 illustrations including 200 plates in full color. Previous owner's initials on half title page. Light shelf-wear and rubbing to dust jacket. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. US, Taschen, 1st, 1999-10-01, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 200 pages, illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Light edgewear and rubbing to dust jacket, else a clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Tokyo, Toyo Bunko, Reprint, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 377 pages. Hardcover. Volume II only. Illustrated with black & white photographs. Light wear. Clean, tight copy.